Anger over Timor suspects list

For many the pain of last year's violence is still fresh

Indonesian human rights activists have condemned government prosecutors for failing to include top military commanders in a list of suspects to be investigated over their role in last year's violence in East Timor.

General Wiranto: Absent from the list

Although the 19-name list includes senior army and police officers, the then army commander, General Wiranto, was not named by the attorney general.

The man who headed the initial independent investigation, Albert Hasibuan of the Indonesian Human Rights Commission, told the BBC his committee had included General Wiranto and several other generals on their list of provisional suspects, but their names were then removed.

More than 600 East Timorese died and more than 200,000 fled into West Timor during an upsurge of violence unleashed by Indonesian-baked anti-independence militias.

Political move

I suspect there was political compromise or political pressure

Albert Hasibuan, Indonesian Human Rights Commission

Mr Hasibuan warned that the decision to remove the most senior names, which he said was politically motivated, could lead to the establishment of an international tribunal.

He said there was "definitely enough evidence" to prosdecute General Wiranto for his involvement in the violence.

"General Wiranto is responsible for not stopping the killing in East Timor," he told the BBC.

At present the most senior figure named on the list is former regional military commander Major-General Adam Damiri, a two-star general who was based in Bali.

Indonesian troops: Accused of instigating the violence

Questioning of the suspects is to begin next week.

As well as General Wiranto other names omitted from the list of suspects were the chief of military intelligence, Zacky Anwar, and the leaders of the pro-Jakarta militias blamed for the deaths of several hundred people.

The United Nations administrator in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, has described the list as a good beginning, but only a beginning.

International pressure

Indonesia has been under strong international pressure to put on trial those responsible for the East Timor violence or face the threat of an international tribunal.

Jakarta has insisted that it alone should have responsibility for the investigation but correspondents say doubts about the government's capacity for the task are now certain to grow.

Proposals for setting up a tribunal along the lines of those for Rwanda and former Yugoslavia have been firmly rejected by the Indonesian Government.

The list of suspects includes a group accused of five specific atrocities.

They include massacres in April 1999 of independence supporters in Liquica and of refugees sheltering at the home of independence leader Manuel Carrascalao in the East Timorese capital, Dili.

'Active involvement'

Human rights groups have long blamed the Indonesian military for inciting the violence and supporting the systematic destruction of East Timorese homes and infrastructure after the result of the referendum was announced.

An earlier Indonesian Government-sponsored human rights commission report accused 33 military officers - including General Wiranto - of "crimes against humanity".

A separate UN panel concluded that the wave of violence "would not have been possible without the active involvement of the Indonesian army, and the knowledge and approval of the top military command".